The majority of the U.S. Navy's submarines still depend on the use of the age old periscope. At periscope depth, both the periscope and even the latest generation of non-penetrating photonics masts, which are installed on Virginia Class submarines for example, are still required to be rotated to view specific contacts. When operating passively in a contact dense environment, such manual contact identification can be time consuming and, in some instances, put the submarine in potentially hazardous situations.
Current panoramic systems primarily use one of two approaches. The first approach uses a specialized optic that images 360 degrees on the horizon onto a circle of the imaging focal plane. Image processing is used to map the circle into a straight line for display. However, this approach suffers from several shortcomings. Namely, the highest achievable resolution of the system is limited by the size of the focal plane/planes that can be physically utilized in the optical arrangement. In addition, optical resolution is not uniform over the field of view. Typically this is many fewer pixels than can be implemented using a number of separate cameras. This approach also suffers from mechanical challenges due to the need for a continuous transparent cylinder that must also provide a measure of structural rigidity.
The second approach uses several more standard video cameras arrayed on a circumference to image the complete circle. Typically, image processing software running on a general purpose processor would be used to reassemble or stitch the separate images into a single continuum, or alternatively several long image segments. This approach is computationally intensive, inefficient, cumbersome and may result in significant latency and processing overhead. Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved high resolution real time panoramic imaging system.